WEST NORRITON — As the second half of Friday’s field hockey game between Plymouth Whitemarsh and host Norristown approached, the neighborhood rivals were locked in a scoreless draw.

Both teams had scoring opportunities in the first 40 minutes, but neither was able to capitalize. As the minutes counted down, the pressure began to mount. Then, Norristown’s Monica Levins took some of the pressure — actually a lot of pressure — off her team when she scored off an assist from Emma Hagel with 16:03 left in the game.

The teams continued to play attacking hockey for the remainder of the contest on the artificial turf atNorristown Area High Schooland the Eagles held on for an exciting 1-0 Suburban One League American Conference win.

“I had a beautiful assist from Emma Hagel,” said Levins. “The play started with a hit in and Emma shot. It bounced off the goalie’s pad and I pushed it in. After the goal, I screamed for five seconds. I was so excited. We beat PW.”

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“All we wanted to do today was win. We lost to them by one goal earlier this season and we’ve been thinking about getting revenge ever since. PW is our biggest rival. I didn’t think we had ever beaten them before. And, today being ‘Senior Day’ made it even better.”

If Plymouth Whitemarsh and Norristown played 10 times this season, the teams would probably win four apiece with two draws — and their goal total, if not even, would be within one or two.

Actually, that’s how it was with the two times the Eagles and Colonials have played this season. PW won a few weeks ago 5-4 at home — two games split evenly with each team logging five goals.

Friday’s game was a key showdown in the SOL’s American Conference. Both teams entered with a 6-5 conference record. They were tied for third place with Upper Merion while Wissahickon and Springfield-Montco were on top with one loss each.

“This was a big win for us,” said Norristown coach Stacie Staufenberg. “It puts us at 8-7 overall and 7-5 in the league with games left against Wissahickon and Cheltenham next week.”

“We’ve been working really hard on our passing. They (her players) brought it today. I’m really happy with how well they played. It was ‘Senior Day’ and they did it for the seniors.”

“And, all five of our seniors — Alyssa (Bloomer), Jess (Grose), Rachel (Hagel), Monica (Levins) and Amelia (Schunder) — they all played great today. This was one of our best games all season. We played well both times we played PW.”

Norristown benefitted from a solid effort between the pipes by Jessica Grose. The Eagles’ senior goalie made nine saves — including a sliding save 15 meters from goal that stymied PW’s Morgan Nagy as she came down on a breakaway.

“I was thinking — all or nothing,” said Grose. “If I wanted the ball, I had to take a chance — for me and for the team. I had another save like that in the second half but there were more players around and I knew my teammates would have my back.”

Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Andrea Carr said, “It was an evenly-matched game. The stats — shots-on-goal and penalty corners — were about even. It was just one of those games.”